Building (Private to PhoenixSapphire)

Chris walked into the Art's and Craft's place and grabbed a few sticks, and some glue. He hated Arts and Crafts, but it was the closest thing to forging that he was aloud to do. Chiron was constantly scolding him, Don't build unless someone asks. Taking orders took longer. I liked working free-lance a lot more.

He strategically placed a few Popsicle sticks to make a small square foundation.

Being a newbie, Adin was still a little lost around camp. This improved after two days, when she could at least find the cabins without some wild guessing. But still, with Camp Half-Blood being so large, Adin couldn't memorize where everything was within the short amount of time. Now, she was hoping to get to the Amphitheater to listen to other campers singing, but for some weird reason she ended up in the Arts and Crafts. After thinking 'what the heck, this will do,' Adin entered the shack.

Adin had always liked art. It had been her favorite subject at school. She liked to draw, even if she wasn't that good. She liked putting together some stuff, even if they don't turn out the way she imagined them to be. But mostly though, Adin enjoyed watching other people create art. It was ironic because after watching, she would hate herself for not having the abilities to do her own art.

The place was not that big, and Adin was thankful she hadn't brought Rocky along. The shack was filled with all kinds of materials, with some of them scattered on the floor. Campers were busy working on their little projects. Looking around, she spotted a boy about her age fiddling around with popsicle sticks. She approached him carefully and...well, just stared. After all, she just wanted to watch.

"Um, don't mind me. I'm just watching," she assured the boy. "Just... carry on."

I turned around and saw the girl. She was skinny, but had beautiful onyx eyes, and shoulder length black hair. Let's face it, she was cute. "Oh-okay." I said, turning back around to work on the statue of Popsicle sticks. He was having trouble working though. He had stage fright, which only got worse in front of girls.

Adin looked at the boy. He seemed slightly short for a boy of his age. His auburn hair shone red in the little sunlight that filtered through the shack's windows. Also, Adin noticed by the way he was moving that he was nervous. That makes two of them. Adin had half a mind to leave, but she was interested in what the boy was making out of popsicle sticks.

"Um, is it really alright? I mean, I can leave..." Adin trailed off.

"Oh no," he said a bit to fast, turning around quickly and almost knocking over his base. "I just..." he paused, "I'm Chris," he said, holding out his hand, "and you are?"

Adin was a little bit surprised at the Chris's sudden movement, but she shrugged it off. "I'm Adin," she said, shaking Chris's hand. His hand felt slightly rough, and she assumed that it was because of crafting...or something related to that. Unconsciously running a hand through her hair, Adin began, "So... you do this... often?"

"Well, not this. I prefer working in the Armory. I'm a child of Hephaestus. What about you?" he hoped that didn't ward her off, like it did a few people. He hadn't been the most popular kid in camp. All the geeks worshiped him because of his technical powers at school.

"I'm... unclaimed," Adin deadpanned. It felt like a ton of bricks pulled her spirits down. But never mind that, she didn't want Chris to pity her or something like that. "A child of Hephaestus, huh?" she asked, quickly switching topics. Adin got quite excited. "What kind of things do you make?"

"Anything! You name it, I've either made it, or can make it." I say, thinking for a moment, "Have you ever read 'Thomas Huck' by Pamela Times?" I say. The book had been written by my mom, and based off me. About a kid who could make amazing things from almost nothing, and then got himself into trouble.

Adin could tell that he was pretty confident with himself. Maybe it was a trait of all Hephaestus kids. "Thomas Huck? The name rings a bell... I think my friends talked about him once. The inventor kid?" Adin said, trying to recall what exactly her friends said. She could remember that she didn't read the book though, since she couldn't find a copy to borrow.

"Yeah. The author was my mom. Thomas Huck is me. Anyway, I was just gonna say, in the book I built this." I say, holding up the watch. I turn it on and a holographic display of the earth appears, with apps floating around all over it. It draws some eyes from the Hermes kids. Too bad it's locked so only I can use it. "Pretty neat, huh?"

Adin's eyebrows rose. She knew that Chris wasn't lying. Then, her mind was blown away when the hologram of the earth popped out of the watch. It looked so real! At first, Adin thought that the Hephaestus campers only made the old weapons and stuff she learned from mythology. Turned out that she was wrong. Well, you learn something new everyday.

"Wow," Adin mumbled, her eyes fixed on the floating apps around the globe. It looked like a 3D iPad, but much cooler. "Is that even legal?"

"Honestly, no. I signed a contract with the government which says that this was destroyed, and that I wouldn't make another one. But I did. I have it so re-routed through the internet though, that it's running off 1,000,000 Ip addresses world-wide. They'll never know." He probablly sounded like a tech-nerd, but that's all he knew. He looked at her again and says, "So, you have any talents?"

Adin blinked. She meant the 'is that even legal?' comment as some kind of joke. Apparently, the watch gadget thing wasn't legal. And honestly, she didn't really understand the technical things Chris said. She got the gist though, thankfully. Adin didn't want to ask him to repeat anything since she thought it would probably make her look dumb. He sounded like the geeks in class. Were all Hephaestus kids like that? Maybe the geeks in her class were also Hephaestus kids.

Before Adin could ponder on the possibility that her classmates Jimmy and Tim were demigods, Chris asked her if she had any talents. Goofing up, but that doesn't count, she said in her thoughts. Adin shifted uneasily. "I don't know. I can kinda sing, I guess. But I'm not that good," she said, looking at the popsicle sticks on the table.

"Really? I'm sure you're great at it." I say, complimenting her. "Well, uh- would you like to help with this? I wasn't completely sure what I was going to make." I say, which was partly true. He wasn't 100% sure what it was going to be, but he thought it was gonna be along the lines of his father. But, he'd make whatever she wanted.

Adin smiled at him. Chris was really nice. Her eyes drifted over to the popsicle sticks and she gave a rare chuckle. "Well actually, I'm no good at these things," she said in between chuckles. "How about we just put them together randomly and see what we can make out of it?" she suggested, but she meant it as a joke.

It was a long shot, but he saw a opening, "How about we get out of here, and go for a walk?" I say. It was pretty nippy out, he guessed. He had always been immune to the cold.

Adin looked out the window. It was pretty cold outside, but she brought her jacket so she didn't have to worry about it. Then Chris...he should be fine, right? Hephaestus was the god of fire after all. He shouldn't have a problem with the cold. "Yeah, okay," Adin said, nodding.

I walked out into the, what I guess was supposed to be cold. I started walking towards the beach, Adin following closely behind me. I walked along the beach, he walking right beside me. This is nice right? Not weird or awkward, right? "So. Where'd you grow up?"

Adin pulled her jacket tighter around her slightly shivering form. It was definitely colder than usual. Looking at Chris, she could see that she was right about the cold being nothing to him. He walked right beside her, then suddenly Adin grew aware of the image of the two of them walking side by side along the beach. Her cheeks turned a faint pink, but she tried to ignore it. They were just friends, right? Nothing wrong with it.

"Just New York," she said softly. "It's not anything fancy. Just a normal childhood, but being dyslexic and having ADHD made life harder for me," she sighed. "You?"

((OOC: Shouldn't we create a new thread?))

"I grew up in San Francisco most my life, but I moved around a bit." I say, walking slowly. I looked over at Adin, who was shivering slightly. "Are you cold?" I say, taking off my jacket, and putting it over her shoulders. Smooth I think to myself.

((OOC: Yeah, you make it and send me a link))